Gregg Geller 1985 compilations

[dougkapp]

I can't see any connection between Gregg Geller's releases and FTD. I believe much more that the Legendary Performer series and Essential Elvis were the beginning of FTD than Geller's releases.
To me, The Rocker, The Return of The Rocker, A Valentine Gift For You, are just compilations, nothing more. Maybe in the US or Europe these releases have been perceived differently, but for me, as a collector since 1975, I never saw these releases as a "salvation" for the Elvis legacy.
Oh, I was forgetting: I think the mix of Stranger in My Own Hometow available on Reconsider Baby is horrible. Just my opinion.

Even as a teen age Elvis fan in the 80's I was completely disapointed in most of the releases. I would go to the record store, look at the content, and put it right back as I already had that stuff. They could spin it any way they wanted to with a nice cover or colored vinyl, but in the end, it wasn't anything that most fans didn't already have, and in many cases many times over.

That's exactly how i perseived those releases back then. I was very picky when it came to buy new albums and one thing I wouldn't want was re-buying stuff I already had elsewhere on record.

As a kid in the eighties I was still building my core collection and a lot of the original LP albums were not available in the record stores - not to speak of EPs or singles. So I'd rather buy an original soundtrack album of say "Frankie and Johnny" with all new songs on it than a compilation like "Rocker". If I wanted different Elvis songs in a collection I'd just make a mix tape of it like kids back then would do.
These albums with re-released material where often the only Elvis vinyl available in the stores instead of original material and it drove me mad. That feeling from back then still carries over to today and is probably the reason why I couldn't care less for those years and what has been released at that time.
Of all the albums released between Elvis' untimely death and the time Ernst took over there were only very few I cared for: Elvis in Concert, the silver and the golden box (although I couldn't afford to buy them back then and only had them later from a friend) and to a lesser extent "This is Elvis" and "Guitar Man" as well as the "Memphis Record". It was so cool when the Essential Elvis series started and finally a lot of new things were available on new albums.
Of course this all changed later when the catalogue was re-built and re-purchasing material was a completely different thing now - especially with material being available digitally for the first time in great packages like the three decade boxes, the soundtrack double features and the gospel material.
But of course that was different than a handful of thrown together random songs like on the mess of releases up to around 1987.
I'm glad though for those of you who were happy with whatever they got back then. It wasn't fun times being an Elvis fan back then.

That's exactly what I think about these 80's releases, a mess.
Always On My Mind would have been much better if it hadn't mixed songs from totally different phases of Elvis' career. Only the title track and the fantastic mix of It's Midnight save the album.
But all was not lost The Memphis Record, The Top Ten Hits and The Alternate Aloha saved the releases from this era.

Alternate Aloha? That's the worst sounding multi track that RCA issued of Elvis. And it has some stiff competition!

Not for me. I like the sound of that CD and I can assure you that I have read many people praising the mix of The Alternate Aloha.

[pmp]

I can't see any connection between Gregg Geller's releases and FTD. I believe much more that the Legendary Performer series and Essential Elvis were the beginning of FTD than Geller's releases.
To me, The Rocker, The Return of The Rocker, A Valentine Gift For You, are just compilations, nothing more. Maybe in the US or Europe these releases have been perceived differently, but for me, as a collector since 1975, I never saw these releases as a "salvation" for the Elvis legacy.
Oh, I was forgetting: I think the mix of Stranger in My Own Hometow available on Reconsider Baby is horrible. Just my opinion.

Even as a teen age Elvis fan in the 80's I was completely disapointed in most of the releases. I would go to the record store, look at the content, and put it right back as I already had that stuff. They could spin it any way they wanted to with a nice cover or colored vinyl, but in the end, it wasn't anything that most fans didn't already have, and in many cases many times over.

That's exactly how i perseived those releases back then. I was very picky when it came to buy new albums and one thing I wouldn't want was re-buying stuff I already had elsewhere on record.

As a kid in the eighties I was still building my core collection and a lot of the original LP albums were not available in the record stores - not to speak of EPs or singles. So I'd rather buy an original soundtrack album of say "Frankie and Johnny" with all new songs on it than a compilation like "Rocker". If I wanted different Elvis songs in a collection I'd just make a mix tape of it like kids back then would do.
These albums with re-released material where often the only Elvis vinyl available in the stores instead of original material and it drove me mad. That feeling from back then still carries over to today and is probably the reason why I couldn't care less for those years and what has been released at that time.
Of all the albums released between Elvis' untimely death and the time Ernst took over there were only very few I cared for: Elvis in Concert, the silver and the golden box (although I couldn't afford to buy them back then and only had them later from a friend) and to a lesser extent "This is Elvis" and "Guitar Man" as well as the "Memphis Record". It was so cool when the Essential Elvis series started and finally a lot of new things were available on new albums.
Of course this all changed later when the catalogue was re-built and re-purchasing material was a completely different thing now - especially with material being available digitally for the first time in great packages like the three decade boxes, the soundtrack double features and the gospel material.
But of course that was different than a handful of thrown together random songs like on the mess of releases up to around 1987.
I'm glad though for those of you who were happy with whatever they got back then. It wasn't fun times being an Elvis fan back then.

That's exactly what I think about these 80's releases, a mess.
Always On My Mind would have been much better if it hadn't mixed songs from totally different phases of Elvis' career. Only the title track and the fantastic mix of It's Midnight save the album.
But all was not lost The Memphis Record, The Top Ten Hits and The Alternate Aloha saved the releases from this era.

Alternate Aloha? That's the worst sounding multi track that RCA issued of Elvis. And it has some stiff competition!

Not for me. I like the sound of that CD and I can assure you that I have read many people praising the mix of The Alternate Aloha.

You have?

[dougkapp]

Alternate Aloha? That's the worst sounding multi track that RCA issued of Elvis. And it has some stiff competition!

Not for me. I like the sound of that CD and I can assure you that I have read many people praising the mix of The Alternate Aloha.
[/quote]

You have?
[/quote]

The Alternate Aloha? Yes, on CD, japanese version. One of most played CD in my collection.
And you? Do you have the CD?

[minkahed]

I can't see any connection between Gregg Geller's releases and FTD. I believe much more that the Legendary Performer series and Essential Elvis were the beginning of FTD than Geller's releases.
To me, The Rocker, The Return of The Rocker, A Valentine Gift For You, are just compilations, nothing more. Maybe in the US or Europe these releases have been perceived differently, but for me, as a collector since 1975, I never saw these releases as a "salvation" for the Elvis legacy.
Oh, I was forgetting: I think the mix of Stranger in My Own Hometow available on Reconsider Baby is horrible. Just my opinion.

Even as a teen age Elvis fan in the 80's I was completely disapointed in most of the releases. I would go to the record store, look at the content, and put it right back as I already had that stuff. They could spin it any way they wanted to with a nice cover or colored vinyl, but in the end, it wasn't anything that most fans didn't already have, and in many cases many times over.

That's exactly how i perseived those releases back then. I was very picky when it came to buy new albums and one thing I wouldn't want was re-buying stuff I already had elsewhere on record.

As a kid in the eighties I was still building my core collection and a lot of the original LP albums were not available in the record stores - not to speak of EPs or singles. So I'd rather buy an original soundtrack album of say "Frankie and Johnny" with all new songs on it than a compilation like "Rocker". If I wanted different Elvis songs in a collection I'd just make a mix tape of it like kids back then would do.
These albums with re-released material where often the only Elvis vinyl available in the stores instead of original material and it drove me mad. That feeling from back then still carries over to today and is probably the reason why I couldn't care less for those years and what has been released at that time.
Of all the albums released between Elvis' untimely death and the time Ernst took over there were only very few I cared for: Elvis in Concert, the silver and the golden box (although I couldn't afford to buy them back then and only had them later from a friend) and to a lesser extent "This is Elvis" and "Guitar Man" as well as the "Memphis Record". It was so cool when the Essential Elvis series started and finally a lot of new things were available on new albums.
Of course this all changed later when the catalogue was re-built and re-purchasing material was a completely different thing now - especially with material being available digitally for the first time in great packages like the three decade boxes, the soundtrack double features and the gospel material.
But of course that was different than a handful of thrown together random songs like on the mess of releases up to around 1987.
I'm glad though for those of you who were happy with whatever they got back then. It wasn't fun times being an Elvis fan back then.

That's exactly what I think about these 80's releases, a mess.
Always On My Mind would have been much better if it hadn't mixed songs from totally different phases of Elvis' career. Only the title track and the fantastic mix of It's Midnight save the album.
But all was not lost The Memphis Record, The Top Ten Hits and The Alternate Aloha saved the releases from this era.

Alternate Aloha? That's the worst sounding multi track that RCA issued of Elvis. And it has some stiff competition!

And that damn artwork. Yikes!!!

[pmp]

Alternate Aloha? That's the worst sounding multi track that RCA issued of Elvis. And it has some stiff competition!

Not for me. I like the sound of that CD and I can assure you that I have read many people praising the mix of The Alternate Aloha.

You have?
[/quote]

The Alternate Aloha? Yes, on CD, japanese version. One of most played CD in my collection.
And you? Do you have the CD?
[/quote]

Unfortunately I bought it at the time - not the Japanese version, but then most people didn't buy the Japanese version.

[pmp]

I can't see any connection between Gregg Geller's releases and FTD. I believe much more that the Legendary Performer series and Essential Elvis were the beginning of FTD than Geller's releases.
To me, The Rocker, The Return of The Rocker, A Valentine Gift For You, are just compilations, nothing more. Maybe in the US or Europe these releases have been perceived differently, but for me, as a collector since 1975, I never saw these releases as a "salvation" for the Elvis legacy.
Oh, I was forgetting: I think the mix of Stranger in My Own Hometow available on Reconsider Baby is horrible. Just my opinion.

Even as a teen age Elvis fan in the 80's I was completely disapointed in most of the releases. I would go to the record store, look at the content, and put it right back as I already had that stuff. They could spin it any way they wanted to with a nice cover or colored vinyl, but in the end, it wasn't anything that most fans didn't already have, and in many cases many times over.

That's exactly how i perseived those releases back then. I was very picky when it came to buy new albums and one thing I wouldn't want was re-buying stuff I already had elsewhere on record.

As a kid in the eighties I was still building my core collection and a lot of the original LP albums were not available in the record stores - not to speak of EPs or singles. So I'd rather buy an original soundtrack album of say "Frankie and Johnny" with all new songs on it than a compilation like "Rocker". If I wanted different Elvis songs in a collection I'd just make a mix tape of it like kids back then would do.
These albums with re-released material where often the only Elvis vinyl available in the stores instead of original material and it drove me mad. That feeling from back then still carries over to today and is probably the reason why I couldn't care less for those years and what has been released at that time.
Of all the albums released between Elvis' untimely death and the time Ernst took over there were only very few I cared for: Elvis in Concert, the silver and the golden box (although I couldn't afford to buy them back then and only had them later from a friend) and to a lesser extent "This is Elvis" and "Guitar Man" as well as the "Memphis Record". It was so cool when the Essential Elvis series started and finally a lot of new things were available on new albums.
Of course this all changed later when the catalogue was re-built and re-purchasing material was a completely different thing now - especially with material being available digitally for the first time in great packages like the three decade boxes, the soundtrack double features and the gospel material.
But of course that was different than a handful of thrown together random songs like on the mess of releases up to around 1987.
I'm glad though for those of you who were happy with whatever they got back then. It wasn't fun times being an Elvis fan back then.

That's exactly what I think about these 80's releases, a mess.
Always On My Mind would have been much better if it hadn't mixed songs from totally different phases of Elvis' career. Only the title track and the fantastic mix of It's Midnight save the album.
But all was not lost The Memphis Record, The Top Ten Hits and The Alternate Aloha saved the releases from this era.

Alternate Aloha? That's the worst sounding multi track that RCA issued of Elvis. And it has some stiff competition!

And that damn artwork. Yikes!!!

I bought it and got so excited on the bus home as I read the liner notes telling me it was the greatest sounding Elvis live show ever. And then I played it. Geez. It's the first time I was ever disappointed by sound quality on a recording I'd bought. I was still at the age where you put the record on and enjoyed it without critiquing it.

[Markus K.]

I bought it and got so excited on the bus home as I read the liner notes telling me it was the greatest sounding Elvis live show ever. And then I played it. Geez. It's the first time I was ever disappointed by sound quality on a recording I'd bought. I was still at the age where you put the record on and enjoyed it without critiquing it.

Same here, I was also reading those liner notes while riding home on the bus and feeling all excited.
After the first few minutes into the actual vinyl that soon faded away. I really hated that mix, especially the sound of the drums back then.

[dougkapp]

I believe that each of us will have a different opinion about Elvis' releases. If the more recent releases, From Elvis In Nashville, Back In Nashville, have divided opinions, the releases from the 1980s certainly provoke discussions of all kinds.
Those who don't like the sound of 1988's The Alternate Aloha should be satisfied with the version released on Legacy. As I said before, I really like the sound of The Alternate Aloha, The Memphis Record. Those who don't like it are not obligated to listen to it.

[bluejays3577]

I still wouldn't mind seeing FTD put out the 1976 soundboard compilation live show that was slated for the "Elvis, A Golden Celebration" set. I believe some of the songs have been released already by FTD but it would be nice to finally pinpoint down the dates for all of the songs from the compiled show.

[Lonely Summer]

What I wanted back in 1985 was copies of the original albums, so I was very happy when several of the 50's albums were "restored to original mono". I still have fake stereo copies of For LP Fans Only, A Date with Elvis, King Creole, and Loving You, but they're borderline unlistenable. So thank you Greg Geller for bringing back the mono versions of Elvis Presley, Elvis, Elvis' Christmas Album, Elvis' Golden Records, and 50,000 Elvis Fans Can't Be Wrong - Elvis' Gold Records, Volume 2.